Originally posted by DMetters-Bone
It looks like a better config than SQ. Seat 1A on SQ looks on to the stairwell and doesn't look like it is in a cabin environment? Just my 2c worth!
Everyone seems to bang on about 1A/1F on the SQ A380 being overlooked by the staircase. The reality is that no pax come up or down the stairs because it's roped off. Very occasionally crew will use it, but I never felt my seat was being looked over. Far more likely is being overlooked by your fellow pax across the aisle if you are in rows 2 or 3 if you leave your doors open. Row 4 can't be looked over, but it's close to the galley and thus suffers noise, as does row 3 to some extent. In row 3 I could still hear a crying baby back in Y, and there's two sets of curtains, a galley and the uber-loos to contend with.
Row 1 affords the greatest privacy and least traffic in my experience: even with the doors open, no-one will gaze over you unless they dare to walk down the staricase and overtly lean over the stair rail.
Regarding EK's layout, firstly there are two more pax in F than in SQ's R. Secondly, because they are upstairs, where the width of the aircraft is narrower (cf, SQ runs 2-4-2 in Y upstairs and 3-4-3 in Y downstairs) and so the space afforded to F pax, certainly in width, I would suggest is less than on SQ.
My own thoughts are that they're still suites in F, similar to those EK have on the A345, and their new B77L that they're currently running to Houston and Sao Paulo.
Cheers, Howard